Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Enhancement training for Madaris facilitators in Sarangani
Gov. Migs visits SBB summer class
SBB volunteer from Thailand
SBB Learners
Foreign SBB big sisters
Villagers welcome Vice Governor Solon
Union awards incentive Sarangani retiree
Retiring Sarangani guard cited
Sarangani Big Brother ice breaker
Sarangani Big Brother breaktime
Reading is Fun! in Sarangani
Hot meals for Sarangani Big Brother classmates
Takolicious in Gumasa
Sarangani Bay Festival party zone ocular inspection
Sarangani Bay Festival events area
GUMASA, Sarangani (April 20, 2012) – A Sarangani Information Office technician tests his speedlights at the Sarangani Bay Festival events area Friday, April 20. Sarangani Bay Festival will be on May 18-19 in Gumasa. For more news and updates, please visit the Province of Sarangani . Come andenjoy Sarangani Bay Festival on May 18-19, 2012. (Cocoy
Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
Sailing at Sarangani Bay
Soldier trains Sarangani Big Brother volunteers
Sarangani Big Brother volunteers trained
“Breaking the barrier” at Sarangani Big Brother training
Sarangani good site for paragliding
By COCOY SEXCION
MAASIM, Sarangani (April 13, 2012) - Sarangani is a good flying site for paragliding said Armand Dard, a French national and a visiting paragliding professional instructor.
"This is my second time in the Philippines and my first time in Sarangani. Last year I did some paragliding in Carmona, Cavite and also in Boracay but this place which I discovered one month ago is a better flight site,” Dard said.
The flying site is located at SAFI Ranch 1 in barangay Seguil, less than 30 minutes drive from General Santos City.
The flight site is overlooking Sarangani Bay.
“It has comfortable take off and landing sites,” Dard noted. “It also has big landing site comfortable for beginners and you can fly almost everyday."
Dard is conducting paragliding international standard trainings to members of the newly-formed Sarangani Paragliding Club.
“You ask what is the next big thing in Region 12, we are crossing our fingers -- but I believe in a heartbeat, it’s going to be Paragliding in Sarangani. It is definitely a #1forfun!” said Michelle Solon, chair of the Regional Tourism Council.
“Who said there is no wind around Sarangani Bay? On the contrary there is enough wind!” added Solon who has tried sky sports paragliding.
Joseph Oncada, vice president of Sarangani Paragliding Club said they started paragliding in September last year “and this is the newest sport in the country."
"To those who want to become pilots, or just want to experience flying in tandem, we offer training and tandem flights," Oncada said.
A short flight or a maximum of 10-minute flight would cost P2,300. “For a long flight or 15 to 20-minute flight, we charge 3,000 pesos" Oncada added.
Oncada said the Sarangani Paragliding Club will also have a paragliding accuracy competition on May 18 in time for Sarangani Bay Festival. For more news and updates, please visit the Province of Sarangani . Come and enjoy Sarangani Bay Festival on May 18-19, 2012. (Cocoy Sexcion/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
Touching down in Sarangani
Sarangani offers sky sports paragliding
Paragliding in Sarangani
Kite flying competition in Sarangani
Summer in Sarangani
Mahin Festival opening program
Mahin Festival opening message
Karancho with Gov. Migs and Mayor Tata
Horse race at the beach
Gov. Migs with Glan officials at Mahin Festival
Mahin launches Sarangani’s summer festivals
By BEVERLY C. PAOYON
GLAN, Sarangani (April 18, 2012) – Glan’s Mahin Festival kicks off vacation fun in Sarangani as this is the onset of summer festivals that would climax with a sunset-to-sunrise beach party during the famed SarBay Fest next month in the white sands of Gumasa.
The successful maiden celebration of Mahin Festival last year triggered expectations of a bigger crowd to the three-day festivity starting tomorrow (April 19) until April 21.
As usual, Lumba sa Kabayo (horse race), Palupad Tabanog (kite flying), Bangkarera (boat race), Pintados (body painting), beach volleyball and football, Bikini Open, concerts (featuring Blakdyak) and fireworks display are the lined up activities.
Events during the first day (April 19) will be held at The Grove Beach in barangay Tango while in the next two days will be at Coco Beach in Gumasa.
What makes it distinct from Sarangani Bay Festival (SarBay Fest) on May 18-19, as a local historian in Glan and Sangguniang Bayan Committee on Tourism chair Dr. Jose Tranquilino L. Ruiz has once said, Mahin is a festival which “brings back traditional beach activities the townsfolk have been fond of doing since then like horse racing at the shoreline.”
“Games like this are now being forgotten,” Ruiz lamented.
Mahin is a Blaan word for ‘beach’ signifying the tranquility, calmness and mystery of water while the term was also coined to pay tribute to the first tribal inhabitants of Glan who are the Blaans.
Ruiz explained Mahin was basically conceptualized to also provide a generic name for both of the white and black sand beaches which are the second top revenue earners in Glan next to copra production.
Special Ordinance No. 19-05 declaring April 2011 and every year thereafter to support the holding of celebration of Mahin Festival was also introduced.
As stipulated in the ordinance, Mahin will “spur tourism development” as this serves as an avenue to inculcate in the minds of the people the importance of uplifting their “economic and social lives.”
Sandwiched between Mahin Festival and SarBay Fest is Maitum’s Binuyugan Festival on May 3 to 7. (Beverly C. Paoyon/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
‘Blakdyak live!’ at 2nd Mahin Festival
GLAN, Sarangani (April 17, 2012) - Stage comedian and singer Blakdyak is coming for a live concert here on the culmination night of the 2nd Mahin Festival on April 21.
Known for his outrageous costumes and antics, both on and off the stage, Blakdyak is in his element doing Carribean music, which earned for him the moniker, "The Reggae Master of the Philippines."
He has a slew of hit songs under his belt, the best known of which are "Modelong Charing", "Goodboy" and "Bilin ng Lola Ko".
His music has hit the spot with a wide spectrum of music lovers, but most especially with yuppies and teeny boppers who find his songs zestful and witty.
Organizers expect Blakdyak's legion of fans in Socskargen to storm the dazzling white sand beaches of Gumasa, the festival venue, for that rare chance to watch their idol in the flesh, looming larger than life on stage.
Serving as a fitting prelude to the Blakdyak act is another highly anticipated event, on April 20, the spectacular Bikini Open pageant, featuring the most gorgeous babes and hunks in this neck of wood.
This year's staging of Mahin, which is Blaan for "beach", will run for three days, kicking off April 19, with jet-ski competitions, boat and horse races, and body painting contest.
Admission is free, courtesy of the local government. (GLAN INFORMATION AND NEWS SERVICE)
It’s 2nd Mahin Festival in Glan
GLAN, Sarangani (April 17, 2012) — This prime resort town in Central Mindanao is getting ready for the 2nd Mahin Festival.
The three-day festival, which features indigenous games to highlight the town’s rich cultural heritage, opens on April 19.
Organizers expect a bigger attendance after the festival’s highly successful maiden presentation last year.
“Based on the very positive response to our first Mahin Festival and the great interest and enthusiasm it has generated, we expect a banner crowd this year,” said Municipal Councilor Jose Tranquilino Ruiz 11, chair of the Sanggunian Committee on Tourism.
He said organizers are focusing on staging lesser but more exciting and competitive games the locals had grown used to like bugno sa kabayo (horse fighting), lumba sa kabayo (horse race), lumba bugsay (boat race) lumba karang (stilts race), and palupad sa tabanog (kite flying).
“Since Mahin, which is B’laan for ‘beach’, was originally conceived as a community-based tourism program, we want our fellow Glanians to be the festival’s prime movers,” he said.
“Of course, there will be the usual jet-ski competitions, beach volleyball, body painting and sand castle building contest, but we will be focusing more on our indigenous games,” he added.
For the thousands of visitors expected to turn up for this year’s festivities, beach resort owners are laying out the necessary facilities for food and accommodation as well as a 2.7-hectare parking lot at the festival venue in the famed white sand beaches of Gumasa.
The 2nd Mahin Festival is being supported by the provincial government, which is holding its 7th Sarangani Bay Festival here in May.
“We want to see a highly successful Mahin because it will be a fitting prelude to Sarbay,” said provincial tourism officer Larry Asparin, who is helping coordinate preparations for this year’s Mahin Festival. (GLAN INFO AND NEWS SERVICE)
Writing is fun with Sarangani Big Brother
Sarangani Big Brother game time
"Reading is Fun" First Day of Classes
Sarangani Big Brother volunteers prepare to teach
Classmates under Sarangani Big Brother
Palawan, Comval replicate Sarangani Big Brother
By BEVERLY C. PAOYON and SERAFIN N. RAMOS JR.
ALABEL, Sarangani (April 16, 2012) – Sarangani Big Brother (SBB) “Reading is Fun!” enters its “Season 5” this week with two provinces replicating the program this year.
SBB “Reading is Fun!” is a 15-day reading program run by the provincial government’s Quality Education for Sarangani Today (QUEST) program designed to assist the Department of Education (DepEd) to improve reading skills of “frustration readers” among incoming Grade 2 and 3 pupils.
It is a whole day remedial reading program from April 17 to May 8 implemented in partnership with the DepEd, QUEST, Sangguniang Kabataan and the Alcantara Foundation.
QUEST recently held two days of training for teachers who will conduct the reading classes. Each of the 309 teachers will handle an ideal class size of 35 pupils.
During the training, Governor Migs Dominguez thanked the teachers for their “passion and commitment” to make SBB successful.
“Let’s remember the first time we make them (children) read,” Dominguez told the teachers as he stressed the importance of continuously motivating children to learn to read.
Compostela Valley Province also sent nine youth leaders and 12 teachers to join the training as they would replicate SBB starting this summer vacation which would be called “Summer Big Brother: Reading is Fun! Season 1”.
After a series of benchmarking of local officials, DepEd officials and private sector in Sarangani which was arranged by Alcantara Foundation, Compostela Valley decided to replicate QUEST. Comval started with an Education Summit last January.
Palawan was also set to launch this month its Palawan Big Brother, patterned after SBB.
In early March, QUEST program manager Annalie Edday was instructed by Governor Dominguez to email the activities of QUEST to Palawan Governor Abraham Mitra because he was interested to replicate QUEST.
A QUEST team led by Edday flew to Palawan on March 19-22 to present QUEST and help Palawan organize its education reform program.
This summer, Palawan will have its PBB (Palawan Big Brother: Reading is Fun! Season 1).
“PBB is the kickoff project of the Palawan education reform program,” Edday said.
In Sarangani, Edday noted the improvement in the performance of the “frustration readers” after they have completed the reading program.
“Frustration readers” are those who can identify words but have inadequate or no comprehension at all.
“I am so happy that they feel the sense of belongingness as they enrolled in the next grade,” Edday said.
She said every year different modules are used in the summer classes as additional inputs are being introduced.
QUEST also designed a volunteer program to tap youth volunteers who will assist teachers in facilitating the activities from the modules.
“Teaching young children to read is the most critical educational priority facing the province,” Edday said. She explained SBB “will help schools and children uplift their performance in reading.”
“By teaching all children to read well by the end of the third grade, we will ensure that all students that advance to later grades are well prepared to achieve their full academic potential,” Edday added.
Edday said SBB was successful in helping DepED eliminate the frustration and instructional readers among incoming Grade 2 and 3 pupils.
“For years it has produced good result; for 4 years, this program has engaged 855 teacher volunteers, 2,166 youth volunteers and has made 17,983 pupils better readers,” Edday disclosed.
“We are happy that we have numerous volunteers from General Santos City, seven scholars of American Field Studies and one German volunteer this year,” Edday reported about the SBB volunteers training.
The program was first thought to make “reading as fun,” said Edday, “but since there are quite a number of frustration readers so we made SBB season 4 as a remedial reading program.”
SBB was launched in 2008 in which Governor Dominguez said the first concern then was how to harness the spirit of volunteerism among the youth “to be able to make them contribute in the community.”
“Masarap makatulong bumasa at buksan ang mga mata ng mga bata and teach them to dream big!,” Dominguez told the volunteers in Alabel during the volunteers training last year.
For the past three years, SBB became a channel in unifying the school’s community and utilizing the collective efforts of the Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of the province.
The governor has pointed out that “success lies in education. It opens up boundaries we think impossible. Education from elementary to high school up to college will ensure better future.”
In 2011, QUEST pre-test and post-test results showed a 55 percent increase of the pupils’ reading level from “frustration readers” (36%) to the right reading level (91%) and were ready to enter Grade 3.
Every year, the reading skills of pupils were improving because of Sarangani Big Brother. SBB has become successful through volunteer youth and members of the Sangguniang Kabataan.
“SBB taught me to become someone - to be a builder of this nation. I learned to embrace the beauty of imparting knowledge,” volunteer John Logos Guiang from Maitum town said.
During its second season of Sarangani Big Brother “Reading is Fun!” one of the youth volunteers in Maasim Elementary School was Aimee Aragon, then a 15-year old incoming first year college student.
“I am blessed to be given the opportunity to share my knowledge and experiences for the little children like I was, and I’m very happy to be an ‘Ate’ (big sister) for them,” Aragon said.
The Panlalawigang Pederasyon ng Sangguniang Kabataan (PPSK) launched the month-long reading program in the summer of 2008 among elementary pupils while instilling the value of volunteerism among “mentors”.
Right from SBB’s first season, Alcantara Foundation has already been one of the partners together with the SK, DepEd and the local government in the implementation of the program.
The rest of the sponsors this year are Synergia Foundation, Sagittarius Mining Corp. and World Vision. (Beverly C. Paoyon and Serafin N. Ramos Jr./SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
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